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B.I.G. News!

As you may remember from my last post, this was a hard week for me. My BTF (Best Teacher Friend) is leaving to take an ESL position in the district and my son "graduated" from 5th grade and will also be leaving me next year.

I probably shed more tears this week than the entire school year put together. It's been rough.

But, I'm better now.

Change is good.

Speaking of change.....I've got some B.I.G. news to share.

My fourth grade team is going to departmentalize next year!

Do you departmentalize? I have taught this way before and LOVE it. You can focus on one subject area and perfect it!

So, guess what I'll be teaching?

MATH!

I will teach three 90-minute classes of math. One of those classes will be my own homeroom.

This is something I wanted. BADLY.

It's probably fitting that I just saw this on my Blogger dashboard:

Wow! Over 10,000 page views for my math stations blog post. I just can't believe that. I guess it's a good thing that people find my posts about math interesting, because I'll probably be blogging a lot more about it next year since that's all I will be doing.

Hopefully, I can think of other things to say.

Oh wait, there's always a funny story to tell, right?

With me, usually.

I've been creating a lot lately to get my classroom ready for a math only curriculum which I will be sharing with you soon. First up, labels for all of my math tubs!

I fell in love with these pins this school year and have been
accumulating several items already to get this style going in my room:

These are all from School Girl Style. I know you know her already. She's so creative!

The first picture is from her "Polka Dots and Daisies" collection. Don't you wish you could have that nice comfy white chair in your classroom? Wait.....are you out of your mind? A white chair???? The idea is beautiful, though.

The second two pictures are from her "Bird Theme" collection. Those look more realistic in the real world, don't they?

I'm actually doing somewhat of a combination of the two but with pinks, lime greens and teal blue accents. I'm so excited.

First, I'll get the room organized and decorated in my head and then in reality in the classroom. The good news is that I can get into my building this summer! I haven't been able to do that in over 10 years! It made the end of this school year less stressful (which is good, because I was already a total wreck).

15 comments

I'm already out! :) Hooray for your grade departmentalizing! I am moving to fourth next year, and I will be the only self contained teacher, since we have an odd number of teachers this year. I hope that we'll gain another teacher soon! Enjoy your drink by the pool, you've earned it!LisaStories From Second

I am departmentalizing too... I will be teaching reading for 40 min (they will have another 40 in another classroom & 40 min of writing/language in yet another room). Makes me a smidge nervous (only having 40 to teach what I have normally spent 120 min).

I was also inspired by schoolgirlstyle to re-design my classroom this year. I am excited to start on it in July!

I have been free since last Friday. Our 5th grade used to departmentalize, but we don't anymore. We took on a program called eMINTS and it focuses on subject integration. It is a great thing though! I am loving your new theme ideas!Looking forward to hearing more of your ideas.

Happy Summer!! Congratulations on departmentalizing for math!! It sounds like you are going to get to teach something that you really enjoy, which will be great for both you & the students!! Enjoy the start to your summer vacation. :)

I team taught one year before (there were only two of us, so not really departamentalizing). I was in charge of language arts and social studies and, for the most part, it worked out splendidly. Good luck next year! I am glad you are doing what you enjoy doing :)

Congratulations! Every grade I have taught (4th, 5th and 6th) has been departmentalized, so I don't know anything different. I do know that I appreciate only having to do one lesson plan a day, though! I just finished my second year in 4th grade--first year math only, then math and English this past year. Looks like I will be doing this again next year. We are moving to Common Core next year, so it will change for me again. I enjoy teaching math but it is definitely the most exhausting subject I have taught! We can get in our rooms most of the summer, but they turn the air off until August 1. In Louisiana, that is NOT a good thing! Good luck and I will be looking forward to reading your postings, as I am always excited to learn new things.

We still have another week!!!! I am totally drained (as are my kids!) That is exciting that you are getting to do something you have wanted to do for a while. Our district just decided to do away with departmentalized grades due to common core coming next year. We have loads of upper grades teachers who enjoy teaching like that put in transfers for middle school because they love teaching one subject. Hopefully I'll hear next week about my new reading job :)

Mmmmmm - I'd like one of those please! I think it would be so cool to be departmentalized - but my school is just too, too small. I CAN'T WAIT to see what fabulous ideas you'll put into practice next year!

Yahoo....on joining the departmentalized club. I think in the end, you will enjoy it. It is much easier to plan for just one subject. I teach 4th math/science but I do miss teaching reading. I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures of your new room.

Welcome to Teaching Diversified! I am so happy you're here. After 20 years in elementary classrooms, I decided to venture out of the classroom into the world of ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages). I now spend my time learning about meeting the needs of these (and other) diverse learners. I absolutely love what I do and consider myself a lifelong learner.